At the December 22nd, 2014 public hearing, White Farm Development will be requesting a two

(2) year time extension to the White Pines Subdivision Primary Plat. As this plat was originally

approved in February of 2008—and a one-time time extension was granted (previously) in

accordance with Article 2, Section 224 of the Dearborn County Subdivision Control Ordinance

—the Applicants must request additional time extensions directly from the Plan Commission.

Please note that the Applicants requested, and received approval for, a two (2) year time

extension of the Primary Plat in February of 2011 and (again) in December of 2012.

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns with the above-referenced item, please contact

me at your earliest convenience.

Thank you for your time and attention.

Sincerely & Respectfully,

Mark McCormack

Director of Planning & Zoning DEARBORN COUNTY PLAN COMMISSION

McCormack presented the background on the original plat approval. There has been no improvement plan for the subdivision. 56 lots on 56 acres was what was approved. Many of the PC members were not here when the original plat was approved. He advised them to look at the original conditions in the area 7 years ago, has the ordinance changed in that time period, and are the original owners the same or different now. 24 letters were sent out based on the ones sent last time. The current extension for 2 years expires in Feb 2015. Landscaping and sidewalks have changed in the ordinance.

Jeff Stenger presented for the applicant- and said the new landscaping would be less in the new ordinance. They are not asking for change in those. They are here for a time extension because the economy is still poor. Richard Schmidt was here to answer questions- the ownership group is still the same. Whitewater Development, LLC. It was not stated who was in Whitewater Development, LLC. (Tucker and Schmidt and Tucker is still cleaning up things in his other subdivisions for the PC)

PUBLIC: Glen Crocker- resident west of the project. This is the 4th request fro a time extension- how long do you keep granting extensions? Landscaping and buffers were part of the original and that is still a concern.

Mr Gaynor- still concerned with the traffic issues on Gaynor Ridge 76 lots on 56 acres. One lot is for the pumping system. He is concerned with the large number of homes and the school system which is having economic issues.

END PUBLIC:

McCormack read the conditions from the original approval. Restrictions on buffers and landscaping etc. Also covered the covenants for Ag uses around it and upkeep of the sanitary sewers and color schemes.

Stenger talked about there being an issue of the lift station that was to be shared with Harley Springs. That ended up tabling this in the past.

Beiersdorfer and Little moved and seconded to approve the two year time extension. All ayes. Passed.

2. Request: Waiver for Driveway Spacing on an Arterial

Applicant: JDJ Surveying / Owner: Steven Stenger, et al

Site Location: Address Range ~9501-9701 State Road 46

Legal: Section 9, T7, R2, Map# 02-09, Parcel#016

Township: Kelso Size: 35.7 Acres

Zoning: Agricultural (A)

STAFF REPORT

Background:

The Applicant is requesting a new, shared access point to State Road 46—a Category II Arterial

Road—in consideration of Article 24 of the Dearborn County Zoning Ordinance.

Committee that such adjustment is necessary to preserve the intent of these regulations. Waiver requests exceeding 20% must be reviewed by the Dearborn County Plan Commission and must conform, to the extent feasible, to the standards sets forth in Article 24 of the Zoning Ordinance and Article 3 of the Subdivision Control Ordinance.”33)) Please refer to Article 24, Section 2410 of the Dearborn County Zoning Ordinance.

SECTION 2410 - Minimum Sight Distances

“All driveways and intersecting roadways for Residential use shall be designed and located so

that the minimum sight distances as shown in Table 24.5 are provided. The sight distance for

speeds not located on the chart should be computed by dividing the speed limit by five (5) and multiplying that number by 35 feet [(speed limit / 5) 35]...”

of the northern portion of State Road 46, is situated within an Agricultural Zoning District.

55)) The Existing Land Use of the property is considered Agricultural—not Low Density

Residential as it was classified in the 2009 Comprehensive Plan Update.

66)) State Road is currently considered a Category II Arterial Road, with a paved width of

approximately 24-25 feet, as determined by the Dearborn County staff observation(s).

McCormack presented this- and said that if the driveway is not approved, then the minor subdivision won’t happen. This is a waiver essentially. 35.7 acres of Ag land and there is some residential land use there. They are trying to keep less driveway cuts onto the main roads in the county. McCormack went over the requirements of the ordinance an why this was being requested. Mailers (11) were sent out for this. The Becks were here from the public. Two people talked to him about it. INDOT did approve the driveway location. There is no site distance problem really.

Jeff Stenger presented for the applicant- who is his first cousin. Site distance is over 700 ft and a 1/4 mile in the other direction. They couldn’t line it up as it would end up in the middle of the guard rail. INDOT won’t allow that. They approved it as a minor residential. They can use it for 3 and they have to put covenant and restriction on the plat. They are putting in a class 2 private driveway- compacted gravel. They do not have to get a bond for it. It’s a state road and Mark Bruner worked with then from INDOT.

PUBLIC-

Bob Beck- the driveway is about 30 ft from his house. Stenger said it will be 19 ft off Beck’s property line. His sewer lateral line is on the Stenger property- they are granting an easement for this when they finish out the survey per Stenger. Hall said he’s known Jeff a long time and that if Jeff says it will get done- it will get done.

END PUBLIC:

Beiersdorfer moved and Hornbach seconded to grant the waiver. Approved with all ayes.

ADMINISTRATIVE

1. Proposed changes to the Plan Commission Fee Schedule- only changed is with maps and prints on the 18x24 and one other size. They are cutting the prices in half. They want to make the amount match the formula they and others are charging in the building. Approved by the board.

2. Proposed 2015 Public Meeting Schedule- Approved as the 4th Monday at 7 PM unless there is a holiday workaround. Baudendistel said he is out of town for January meeting- if they do have one-then Arnie McGill will come in to cover.

3. Performance Guarantee Report / Update-Hidden Acres and Morgan’s Ridge are on it. Old Orchard Hill shows the $10,000 in escrow for 2 year period still because they have not been able to get a maintenance bond. The commissioners accepted the road- but they have to have maintenance until the rest is built out. Seldom Seen has been completed and Tucker is to give them $10,000 to do patch work etc. It is not clear if he has paid that $10,000 to county yet or that he even will. They are keeping this on the list to keep track of all this. April is the next one to come up for Maxwell on Harvest Ridge.

4. Introduction and discussion regarding proposed changes to the Dearborn County Zoning & Subdivision Control Ordinance (no official action required) Dearborn County Plan Commission- maybe working on T-Turnarounds as temporary setup for adjoining subdivisions. Panhandles will also be worked on and originally driveways ad to be in the panhandles. Now they use easements outside the panhandles in many cases. So they are thinking of nothing tech review handle panhandles anymore. This would reduce the $40 fee for that review maybe. Legal descriptions on retracements were atrocious sometimes. They were thinking of getting better descriptions. Stenger weighed in on this and the auditor’s office had some issues with this. Mike Hall said that as long as this is not a transfer to another person, it doesn’t change anything. So say not to accept liability by writing a new description. If you are setting iron you should be writing a new description and record it. You ca use the old description for a retracement survey. The PC board wants to think on this until next meeting.

5. Plot Plan requirements - setback requirements might be changed on the application drawings in certain situations in larger lots. They may draft something that makes more sense. Elevations will also be looked at and also drainage lines.

The Dearborn County Redevelopment
Commission has changed their January meeting to Friday, January 9, 2014 at 9 a.m.
The meeting will still be held in the Commissioners’ room at 215-B West High
Street, Lawrenceburg, IN 47025.

Thursday, December 18, 2014

We all know that our government is corrupt. What we apparently don’t appreciate is that:Our constitutions are on our side. We have all the laws we need to quash such corruption and live in peace, prosperity, justice and freedom. We the People have all the power and accountability in the application of those constitutions. We could sweep away ungoverned government and crony corruption in a single day if we wanted to.The Indiana Constitution’s Article I, Section 25, is Hoosiers’ most important, ignored, underutilized and violated rule: “No law shall be passed, the taking effect of which shall be made to depend upon any authority, except as provided in this Constitution.”

This, like the federal constitution’s Tenth Amendment (“powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people”), clarify and reinforce a crucial aspect of constitutional purpose and design.

To this point, legislation does not grant authority, laws depend upon authorization. And in this nation where we have no king to authorize himself (humor me), only constitutions authorize anything governments are allowed to do to us. So when it comes to government action, whatever isn’t specifically authorized is absolutely denied.

On the other hand, Article I Section I of our state constitution says ". . . that all power is inherent in the people,” which reinforces the federal ninth amendment, “the enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.” Constitutions are limits on politics, not us. So whatever isn’t specifically prohibited by constitutional authority, We the People are free to do.

We don’t have to call something “speech” to call it a freedom. Nor do we have to invoke religion rights to prevent government from forcing us to buy what we don’t want, or from prohibit us from buying what we do want (see the federal 9th Amendment). Most of your property tax, and the way we operate schools, are illegal (see Indiana Constitution, Article 8). Most taxation is illegal in the way it’s assessed and what it pays for. By our constitutions, a huge percentage of our prisoners should be freed, and the Federal Reserve Bank shouldn’t exist. All our military actions since WWII, and most since 1903, have been illegal. That’s just for starters.

To summarize, most of what politicians and the cronies who purchase them do today is not just destructive, immoral and stupid it’s also illegal. So don’t say that once lawmakers make a law it can’t be broken; they break laws all the time. They violate constitutions to write laws they like better. In fact they often violate rules today that they wrote yesterday. Nullification of laws happens all the time; just not in a good way.

Why? Because of the phrase “. . . all power is inherent in the people.” Our politicians violate all our fundamental laws because we asked them to — over and over again and through many generations. We have what more than 90 percent of us voted for with a more than 90-percent incumbent reelection rate. We’re the ones who have chosen to nullify our constitutions.

The politicians are not the ones who’re out of touch. The disconnects between our words and actions, our wishes and our choices, are what create the violence, fear, insecurity and injustice that’s growing fast out of anybody’s control. We’re the ones who need to wise up. What we say with our mouths and protests is irrelevant. What we say to politicians with our votes is, “laws be damned, do what you want.” And our politicians comply.

In just a couple of hours, you could read both state and federal constitutions. They’re far shorter and simpler than any modern law, even forgetting intentional deceptions like the Obamacare legislation. It is suggested we use our constitutions as a battle plan and our votes as swords. We have all the power and authority to clean up our mess, and it’s time we do it.

Andrew M. Horning is an adjunct scholar of the Indiana Policy Review Foundation living in Freedom, Ind. He was the Republican candidate for the 7th Congressional District in 2004, finishing with 44 percent of the vote. Horning writes frequently on classical-liberal topics and is an expert on the federal and state constitutions.

The Indiana Policy Review Foundation exists solely to conduct and distribute research on Indiana issues. Nothing written here is to be construed as reflecting the views of the Indiana Policy Review Foundation or as an attempt to aid or hinder the passage of any bill before the legislature or to further any political campaign.

Media, Voters: 'Rational' IgnoranceIs Costly to Our Economic Health

The use of government for economic "development" and economic "stimulus" is quite popular. Unfortunately, its popularity greatly exceeds what it deserves, given both theory and data.

The theoretical reasons are easy to understand. In terms of economics, it is difficult for government to create net economic activity by moving money from one use to another. But in terms of political economy, the benefits of government spending are usually concentrated and obvious, while the costs of government spending are spread through the population and nearly invisible. Given this combination, one can confidently predict that government will be too active in attempts to foster economic growth.

In any area of life, if you see the obvious — and miss larger but more subtle consequences — you'll often end up with bad choices. Quite reasonably, most people spend little energy in thinking about public policy. When they combine this ignorance with naive views on political economy, they will tend to see the benefits of government activism and ignore its costs. Making it worse, members of the media often make the same mistakes. And of course, in the public arena, "interest groups" will tend to exaggerate benefits and downplay costs.

Let me offer four reasons why economic development and stimulus will look better on paper than in reality.

FIRST, the benefits are typically exaggerated. We're often given a success story or two: Subsidy X led to "economic development" opportunity Z. Or we're invited to imagine only the benefits: Giving taxpayer money to others will lead to more purchases which will stimulate the economy. From a few anecdotes, we imagine dozens of similar stories. But a few success stories do not necessarily imply many other success stories. And of course, the recipients of the money are likely to emphasize its benefits.

SECOND, Henry Hazlitt’s "Lesson" teaches us to focus more intently on the subtle costs. In particular, how are we paying for government activism? Let's say the government devotes $10 million for local "economic development." How do politicians pay for this? First, they can increase taxes by $10 million, moving economic activity from the private sector to the public sector. How is this a net gain? Second, they can lower spending elsewhere, moving economic activity within the public sector. That's a shell game. Third, they can borrow the $10 million, resulting in higher taxes down the road. Even in a best-case scenario, this will take prosperity from the future to finance the present.

So, why do we imagine that government spending will routinely create net economic activity? Because it's easier to see the economic activity of the $10 million in a few hands than to imagine that lower overall tax rates will do the same thing. It's difficult to follow the government's shell game when the benefits are obvious and the costs are nearly invisible.

THIRD, the "Austrian Economics" school of thought focuses on "the knowledge problem." Do government actors know enough to implement effective policy? With the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare), legislators famously bragged about not having read the bill. This sort of negligence is routine, especially with massive omnibus legislation. If a politicians haven't read something, why should we trust their knowledge?

But there's a larger knowledge problem. For example, ObamaCare purports to know how to intervene in the markets for healthcare and health insurance at the federal level in a way that will improve outcomes. What are the odds that federal legislators will have enough general knowledge — and enough specific knowledge about people in various states and communities — to impact these markets positively? Mailing out checks and blowing up stuff is one thing, government is pretty good at those things. But manipulating healthcare and health insurance is quite another thing. In the context of economic development, what is the likelihood that government knows how to "pick winners" better than those spending their own money in the market?

FINALLY, the "Public Choice Economics" school of thought focuses on incentives and motives within political markets. Will government actors be incentivized and motivated to do effective public policy? As we noted above, the media and especially the general public are not likely to be knowledgeable about the costs of public policy. What will interest groups and public policy do with their power and knowledge advantages?

Jonathan Gruber was recently grilled for saying that voters are "stupid." In contrast, a Public Choice economist would say that voters are "rationally ignorant" and apathetic. It's not that voters are stupid. Instead, it's simply not worth their energy to figure much out in the political realm. In other words, it's "rational" to pay little attention to politics. Of course, interest groups and politicians might not take advantage of our ignorance. But even a casual observer of today's politics will have at least the general sense that there's more to political markets than benevolence and self-sacrifice.

What can we do as voters? We can stop believing in the tooth fairy and Santa Claus in political markets. Don't let politicians promise you something for nothing — or entice you to play a shell game when you get easily distracted from following the ball.

Eric Schansberg, Ph.D., an adjunct scholar of the Indiana Policy Review Foundation, is a professor of economics at Indiana University Southeast.

Executive session preceded this meeting on a personnel matter. The county attorney certified that they only discussed the personnel matter. Commissioners decided on the finalists of the interviews for Charlie Ashley’s 911 position. Ashley is retiring at the end of this year. They announced that the new 911 coordinator will be Jared Teaney. He is currently employed there and will be moving up into the role. They also decided to retain Ashley until they can fill Teeney’s spot. McHenry thanked Ashley in person at the meeting and also the 911 board in helping fill this spot

OLD BUSINESS:- none

NEW BUSINESS:

PAWS 2015 Contract- Baudendistel said he and Randall met with them and they are paying $10,000/month still for PAWS services. The contract is now an annual contract and has a 120 day termination clause. This is because budget is done annually by the county. Total annual contract is $120,000. Commissioners signed and approved the contract. Randall added that PAWS meeting went really well and the relationship is good. PAWS will give an update next spring.

Park Board Appointment- Dave Matlin resigned. Ginger Corn (sp?) from Bright was appointed till 2016 to fill that term out. Lynch said we need to remember how much work the park board does.

DC Hospital Board of Trustee Appointment- Chip Perfect resigned from DCH Board as he was elected state senator. Rob Morehead was appointed in his place.

ADVANCED CORRECTIONAL HEALTHCARE CONTRACT- Jail- Baudendistel said they have reviewed it with insurances to be sure we had coverage and hold harmless clauses. He wants to review it with Advanced Correctional and if they make all the changes then McHenry was authorized to sign it. [NOTE: There was no discussion of this item, though Commissioners had indicated earlier in the year that they were looking to replace this service with local help from the DC Hospital support.]

Guinevere Emery was added to the agenda by McHenry. She came with info on a Conwell St property in the blight elimination program. They have gone through all the steps. Due diligence has been done to send notices to property owner and title search showed 6 judgement orders for tax sales. It has not sold at any tax sale with delinquent taxes over $13,000. She showed materials to commissioners. She is wanting to pursue Aurora’s timeline to acquire the property. This is the same process they went thru for the 3 story building in Moore’s Hill last year. Once it goes to Commissioners sale there is 120 days to redeem. Pennington said that too much time has lapsed so it has to be offered up for sale again. That sale is in February. Pennington is waiting on the answer on this from Indy. She is going up there today. Emery said there are 9 properties but this is the only one that we need to pursue this possible route. Tabled until Pennington gets her response at next meeting.

Time Grieve- Highway Supt.- 6 families on Wilmington Hill South. They will drive a new pipe thru an existing pipe to fix an improper construction. $125,000 is ball park figure. He wants to approach Council in January for this request. He should have a hard number by then. It would eliminate the need for acquiring more ROW. Lynch asked about the stability of the surrounding area. Is this an emergency? Grieve said he needs to fix it in the next month or two. Cannot close the road- only one way in or out for the 6 homes. Little asked about the road repair. Grieve said they would do that for $5-6,000 in-house.

ADMINISTRATOR: Teresa Randall- one item to update the study on SR 1 and Bellevue in Greendale. This is a backup in the morning and also with PNS traffic in the winter. The study was funded half by Greendale and CVTB. They wanted to be sure the county was involved. The project will be presented to INDOT. The project will be programmed for 2020 hopefully. American Structurepoint did the study.

AUDITOR: Gayle Pennington: presented her bond for their signature for Jan. 1 effective date 2015-2019. Signed by all three commissioners. She said that all the new elected people will be having bonds signed in January.

Claims and minutes - approved and signed claims and approved.

Commissioners’ Live Certificate Sale Service Addendum- They signed it and have 171 days to have the sale. SRI gets 15% of all sales.

Resolution Establishing Intent to Conduct Commissioners’ Sale-This has the severely delinquent tax properties attached to it that will be on the sale. Commissioners approved and signed. This will be published with addresses. Many of these are in Aurora, Moores Hill, and Dillsboro as read into the record by McHenry.

Contract for emergency services for Dillsboro’s 2 squads for $40,000. their financials were attached. Signed.

Contract for St. Leon squad for $20,000 with financials attached. Signed.

ATTORNEY: Andy Baudendistel- said that talking with Marlene and PAWS there are issues with the court cases. They have two week grace period to pay the fine. They decided the 2 week grace period doesn’t work with a bite. They want that to immediately go to court. The only one who can order the dog destroyed is a judge. He wants to fix the ordinance to eliminate the grace period for dog bites. This makes sure they don’t pay the fine and then cannot get to court to get them euthanized.

COMMISSIONER COMMENTS- Dave Deddens and he met with Barnes and Thronburg to discuss a lot of general issues. Good idea for Deddens, Pres, of DC Redevelopment Commission to get to know these folks. He also thanked the Commissioners again for recommending him for the Enterprising Commissioner award. Also wished everyone a Merry Christmas.

Little congratulated Lynch again this week now that the award was official and asked us to remember that we are celebrating Christmas.

LATE ARRIVAL INFORMATION- Baudendistel- ratified McHenry’s signature on Hold Harmless for Cincinnati Bell to access fiberoptic for 911. This will save replacing some equipment. This holds till March of 2015. More coming on this per Terri Randall.

Property on Randall Avenue with Industrial Park Sign- Terri Randall said this is going to be a challenge. Doug Denmure the attorney said he did not know the widow who was the owner of the property. The property is still deeded in the deceased husband’s name. No further info on that yet.

CLAIMS AND FINANCIALS- $6,068.75 claims-general expenses:

Fund 4931 got a $3000 rental ck for 40 acres from Tom Stone

Maxwell $750 + $625

Terri and Sue salaries- $866.25 + $1732.50

International ED Council membership $385

Epop studios - $135 web hosting and updates

Collins Heeb Miller & Co- audit 2013- $1200

Andrea Ewan- $375- attorney Oct-Dec

Grant expense to pay for Oren Turner- $7166.68 Nov-Dec

The balances of accounts and TIFs were read out into the record:

Fund 4931- $396,953.95

Fund 4932- Commission Match- $500,000

Fund Growth and Development-$500,000

Fud 4301 West Aurora TIF- $181,102.37

Fund 4302 St Leon Kelso TIF- $89,183.88

Fund 4303 St. Leon Harrison Township TIF- $36,553,43

Fund 4304 West Harrison TIF- $23,733.10

Fund 9139 Economic Dev Research Grant- $84,479.74

Deaton and Rahe were suggesting making an area west of Dillsboro into a TIF area in the future. It is close to the sewage disposal plant. randall suggested they don’t TIF it until they have something viable or it will not be useful at first.

Membership /REDI Cincinnati 2015 and Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce- Kevin Lynch said that they should be involved in certain organizations in the Cincinnati region that we should be involved in some of those. He knows Terri has info on one of those in particular. He knows from OKI and his involvement that there are a lot of connections to be made- things like seeing distribution warehouses on the way to Seymour for example. Terri Randall said it is like $875 a year for the Chamber there. And REDI is another. She said they keep seeing Ohio KY region and NOT hearing IND. in that. In Economic Development there is a lot of this type of organization. REDI wanted to have her and Commissioner Lynch come over to meet with them. It’s little pricey. $5,000 is the first level and $10,000 gets you a seat on the board and you get all the RFI’s that come in. It would generate more leads. We are a Cinti market- not and INDY market. It’s a pay to play. Rahe said he has mixed emotions on this. We are sort of the red headed step children in there. Lynch said he agrees somewhat. But we want to be in the room. It’s in the Provident Bank Building on 4th street. Kevin used to work next door to them. He also had lunch with the Cincinnati Business magazine editor. He said he didn’t have anyone over here to get information here. Lynch looked over to Celeste Calvitto to share with him maybe as they are both monthly publications. Randall said we have not done enough to build these relationships.Helms said that the Cincinnati Business Courier was not really receptive to us. Helms said the value is the leads. Randall said that Texas was on everyone’s radar as the place everyone is moving. One of the speakers said we should be asking about What’s up with Indiana? As the next big place to be. Looking regionally and how transit works- Kevin knows about that. The new president of IEDC said that we need to be looking at regional markets. Randall asked him at the presentation - How do you look at someone who is a border county like us with TWO states on our borders. He answered her question politically she said. Lynch said that he has had conversations with the airport board that there is a need for a certain number of flights to certain points like say Raleigh NC etc. Lynch said that CVG will never be a hub like it used to be. But to get new flights we need to get info on needed flights for our businesses. [NOTE: This entire discussion seems like a deja vu experience. The more new people the more they redo the same old methods that smaller markets use to shore up their image. Paying to sit on a board is backwards. The big players get PAID to sit on a board. You need to get more experience before you get to the big players or they will not respect your plans. This goes beyond schmoozing. Get a list of the current board and see what each has to offer- look them up. What do they bring to the table? What will you get for $10,000? What do we bring to the table? What do they want from us - besides the obvious $10,000? REALLY.]

IVY Tech Advanced Manufacturing Lab- Randall brought up Chancellor Chris Lowery (sp?) at IVY Tech and said that one of Pence’s initiatives is to get people to work and the IVY Tech programs are part of this. Lawrenceburg gave a grant to the Industrial Park IVY Tech campus to build research additional lab there.This would create the workers for jobs. Deaton said we also pull on Cincinnati for jobs. She has been working with Grant Hughes and Oren and IVY Tech to decide what kind of equipment etc should go into that lab. Lowery is willing to come over and talk to us. Helms said that Indiana is a major manufacturing state and now is valued as a place to get trained and make a pretty good salary. We need to get a qualified work source. Helms said it is now coming together in the past 3-4 years. Lynch closed out with a Merry Christmas to everybody and left. (then came back)

Randy Maxwell said he had nothing to add today.

NEW BUSINESS:

Schedule of 2015 meetings proposed dates and time- The meetings will now be at 9 AM on the second Thursday of the month.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OFFICER’S REPORT- Randall

Meeting with Genesee & Wyoming Railroad/ED goals and Whitewater Mill Spur- has about 7 miles in our county. The agreement is that Whitewater Mill was going to pay for the upgrade for the spur and it is costing a lot. The Mill is asking for help as costs is high. She said that she can’t market the rail if it is not there. They will do the upgrade but they are looking for help to get the rail upgraded and need some help with grants etc. Maxwell said there was a large amount of anxiety until they were sure they had the upgrades to get the wheat in for the flour mill. Rail up to Brookville for Owens Corning from US 50 by Kilby is poorly maintained and there was a slip- so now the granular for Owens Corning is being trucked in now. They are trying to coordinate with our rail to get more traffic there and have a 10 minute truck trip to Brookville then. Lynch said that Gennesee Wyoming is tied to the eastern corridor in Cincinnati. There is also that rail to Chicago that is still being talked about. Economics don’t play out with AMTRAK but maybe coordinate it with CSX too maybe and then it would. They had been favoring the line thru Oxford to tie into Miami students rather than thru Dearborn County. Maxwell wanted it thru Dearborn County. Kevin and Maxwell departed at 9 AM.

District maps and parcels- Mark McCormack from Planning and Zoning- came in to talk about the TIF districts. He said that Planning and Zoning was not involved with them in 2006 other than holding one of the public hearings for them. He said that Paul Kunkel had asked them to provide boundary issue help with making the parcels and the TIF lines work. The St. Leon one is mostly correct but the others were amended.this affected the taxes.He was not sure about residential improvements as being figured into the TIF money. He was pretty sure they couldn’t do that but they needed to check on this. The assessor’s office has been adding that in. It may need to be corrected. Deadens asked if we could expand the St Leon TIF across the highway and McCormack said that you would have to deal with St Leon for that. McCormack said they are doing different approach in St. Leon. The West Aurora TIF map needed a lot of work to get parcel boundaries. He said they are collecting on areas that aren’t in the TIF. The West Harrison TIF didn’t even have the Mills property in it an they fixed that before that went in. Pennington said that she agreed with Mark that it was a mess. Legislation is looking at TIFs too. Randall proposed getting Umbaugh and or London Witte to look at this. Rahe said that we have had professionals fix these things and it keeps coming up as not fixed.To do: Updated parcel list is necessary. Then see what they collect on.Andrea Ewan said their office could do the parcel work at less cost. [NOTE: Rahe is correct - This was done originally consulting with Barnes and Thornburg as Richard Butler, the attorney at the time said they needed someone well versed in TIFs. Much of this is in-house work as the language of the boilerplate documents was the same in each set up before. It might be smart to attend a seminar on TIFs if they are uncomfortable with them.]

CVTB Funding- They will be sending $50,000 check to DCRC next week.They want the DCRC to report back to them. Randall said - Maybe we use their fund to meet their objectives.

SEC Bond Disclosure- received Tom Pitman’s notice that if we issue bonds you have some rules to comply with. So they are for older bonds. These new bonds we issued and and we did these correctly per Randall.

Annual Audit- When EDI did this out of house at Lovell Group. After this audit from August 2013 the rest are done by State Board of Accounts.

Visit to Henry County New Castle ED Offices- They had gotten Boar’s Head meats facility and they have done two spec buildings there. Randall’s daughter lives there so she visited their Econ Dev offices when she was there visiting her daughter. She heard about a program where you can certify your work force with an outside agency. This designation is helpful in attracting outside business. She will give that info out and look more into it- with Jim Helms.

EDI Website Updates- Randall said Andrea works with them ( DCEDI). Andrea said - sort of. Randall said that they were going to disband. Until someone in the community steps up to do that… but EDI is dissolving for sure. Bill Ritzmann is recommending that to the board. It needs it’s own tax ID per Ewan as it is still tied to the Chamber. Ewan does not want a new entity under the chamber. They should be separate. IF they form one. All the grant money came in from Lawrenceburg and it got screwed up. Someone has to get people like Duke to invest money in that. She said the EDI website continues and should be a county wide marketing arm. Oren does this also. It hasn’t been all on Terri.

Purdue University- Strategic Doing, Data Assistance & BRE Survey- Has been helping us with clusters and current assets. She, Hughes, Oren, Guinevere, Shane….have been involved in this.This was not clear as to what they were doing with us.

Helms congratulated Deddens on the Sky Line ground-breaking and all the free coneys. He left at 9:45AM

ATTORNEY’S REPORT- none

OTHER BUSINESS- I asked if they could consider recording their meetings and they will see if they can move the microphone to the table. They didn’t want to move to the chairs like all the other boards as they really like to sit in the circle with each other.

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

The Dearborn County Commissioners have called an executive session at 8:15 a.m. Tuesday, December 16, 2014

This meeting will be held for the sole purpose of receiving information about and interview prospective employees which is classified confidential by state and federal statute I.C. 5-14-1.5-6.1 (b) (5)

This meeting will take place at the Administration Building, 3rd Floor Commissioners Room, 215 B West High Street, Lawrenceburg, IN 47025.

I have (once again) looked into the issue raised by Christine Mueller re: the number of votes needed to change salaries. This will be a pretty long email, but in short, I do believe that State law was followed and the action taken by Council was founded in State statute. Below is my exhaustive analysis of the issue raised by Mrs. Mueller:

1. In 1980, the legislature of Indiana passed the Acts of 1980, P.L. 212, Sec. 1 which added § 36-2-5-13 to the Indiana Code. At the time of passage, that statute read as follows (in pertinent parts):

The compensation of an elected county officer may not be changed in the year for which it is fixed. The compensation of other county officers, deputies, and employees or the number of each may be changed at any time on:

(1) the application of the affected officer, department, commission or agency; and

(2) a two-third (2/3) vote of the county fiscal body.

With a seven member board, a 2/3 majority would be five (5) votes.

2. In 1995, the minutes presented by Christine Mueller show that Joe Meyer (then County Administrator) "spoke on the 'new' Council meeting rules." Part of this discussion was that five (5) votes were needed to change salaries which, in 1995, was consistent with State law. I have a few issues with the minutes and what they mean exactly:

(1) It does not appear that this was anything that was voted on, rather, it is presented as Joe Meyer just updating Council on the manner in which the meetings occur. If you'll notice in the official minutes, no vote was actually taken to "adopt" the procedures that were outlined. Again, this doesn't appear to have ever been voted on (all the other agenda items clearly indicate that a vote was taken);

(2) If this was voted on, it didn't change anything. State statute at the time required five (5) votes for salary changes any way, so this wasn't making anything more stringent; and

(3) Even if this were voted on, it was not done by ordinance and it is something we would have no way of knowing. Also, I am not sure that a Council can bind future councils simply by a voice-vote, I think that would need to be done in ordinance (if it's allowable at all). There is a legal doctrine called "legislative entrenchment" that the US Supreme Court has discussed that basically says that one legislature may not bind the legislative authority of its successors.

The compensation of an elected county officer may not be changed in the year for which it is fixed. The compensation of other county officers, deputies, and employees or the number of each may be changed at any time on:

(1) the application of the county fiscal body or the affected officer, department, commission or agency; and

(2) majority vote of the county fiscal body.

This change in 2002 made it only a majority vote (four (4) votes) for salary changes, which is what I updated Council on when we reviewed this issue previously. If the minutes presented by Mrs. Mueller actually showed that Dearborn County Council adopted a five (5) vote requirement for salary changes in 1995 (which I don't believe those minutes show at all), for that five (5) requirement to remain in effect after this statute was amended in 2002 would have required an ordinance to that effect. County governments can make things more stringent (but not less stringent) than State statutes (in some cases), but to do so requires an ordinance. There are a number of cases going back to 1907 that discuss this:

-Cooper v. City of Greenwood, 81. N.E. 56 (1907) - ordinance may supplement state law

-Medias v. City of Indianapolis, 23 N.E.2d 590 (1939) - no prohibition for an ordinance to impose additional regulations if the ordinance is otherwise valid

-Spitler v. Town of Munster, 14 N.E.2d 590 (1938) - more stringent requirements allowed where exclusive authority not reserved to the state

Therefore, it can be argued that Council can require five (5) votes for salary changes, but because this is more stringent than what the State statute calls for, to do so would require an ordinance. However, it can be argued that Council cannot do this because...

5. Indiana Code § 36-1-3-6(a) states that:

If there is a constitutional or statutory provision requiring a specific manner for exercising a power, a unit wanting to exercise the power must do so in that manner.

Based on this statute, there is an argument that Council cannot change the number of votes required for a salary change because Indiana Code § 36-2-5-13 is very clear on how salary changes come about and what is needed to approve them. It could be argued that this is a "specific manner of exercising a power" and, therefore, cannot be changed. This would be a question to hash out at a later time though (if Council wanted to require five (5) votes for salary changes).

In summary, it is my opinion that State law was properly followed based upon the following:

1. From 1980 through 2002, five (5) votes were required for salary changes;

2. The 1995 minutes only show that the County Administrator, Joe Meyer, updated County Council on procedures for meetings, it appears that no vote was taken by County Council;

3. The 1995 minutes reflect what the State statute said at that time, namely that five (5) votes were required for salary changes;

4. Even if a vote was taken, the voice-vote (no ordinance was presented or passed) may not be binding on future County Councils based on the legal doctrine of "legislative entrenchment";

5. Even if a vote was taken and said vote was binding on future County Councils, the five (5) vote requirement for salary changes would have needed to be reaffirmed by ordinance following the change in the law in 2002 because a County may make things more stringent (in some cases), but to do so requires an ordinance;

6. Finally, the statute discussing the "specific manner for exercising a power" could preclude County Council from making the voting requirements for salary changes more stringent because the statute dealing with salary changes is clear about the procedure to go through and how many votes are needed to change salaries and, therefore, is arguably a "specific manner for exercising a power" which must be followed.

I have spent a great deal of time researching this issue and after everything I have found, I am quite confident in the action taken by County Council. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.